Steve Scauzillo

Reporter

Recent articles

Droughts

A wet start to the rainy season boosted the water conservation effort of urban Californians to 19.5 percent in October, climbing above last month’s totals but less than the 22.3 percent savings realized last year, the state water board reported Tuesday.Southern California cut back 15.7 percent, less than the state average and a four percent drop from September. The region used more water in October of this year, about 82.2 billion gallons, than in October 2015 at 78.2 billion...

Environment

A recent court filing by the nation’s most powerful environmental groups has grown from support for ridding Southern California’s air of lung-damaging particles to a shot across the bow of a Trump administration purportedly set on weakening federal clean air laws.The Sierra Club, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and the Center for Biological Diversity intervened in a case filed on Oct. 21 by the South Coast Air Quality Management District against the...

Electric vehicle manufacturing

Beyond the flashy L.A. Auto Show displays of gas-guzzling pickups and shiny sports cars rotating on turntables, Palos Verdes resident Keith Cole stood with arms folded, staring at the all-electric 2017 Chevrolet Bolt.He had just finished putting money down on the car that, with federal incentives, he bought for about $30,000. Like a $100,000 Tesla, the Bolt goes an EPA-estimated 238 miles on a single charge.“I’m going to drive it from...

Transportation

LOS ANGELES >> The Chevrolet Bolt, the first battery-electric production car capable of traveling over 200 miles on a single charge, was named the 2017 Green Car of the Year Thursday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.The GM car was selected by the Green Car Journal editors and other celebrity judges, including former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, a car enthusiast, and Alan Lloyd, president emeritus of the International Council on Clean Transportation and a former member...

Solar power

What ridesharing services Uber and Lyft did to taxis, Max Aram and Chris Blevins are trying to do to the home solar industry.The founders of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator award-winning startup Pick My Solar said they have witnessed too many high-pressure sales tactics from quantity-over-quality solar companies pulling the wool over customers’ eyes or scaring them away.So they launched their online marketplace that uses 6-12 vetted installers and displays specs and...

Transportation

Nearly one-third of California’s 58 counties will ask voters to approve transportation taxes this November, part of a record-setting number of measures appearing on ballots across the nation.Voters in California counties, from Humboldt to San Diego — and including Los Angeles County with its $121 billion Measure M — are being asked to reach deeper into their pockets to pay for fixing potholes, improving freeways, and adding rail lines, buses and bike/pedestrian...

Transportation

If you could vote while stuck in mind-numbing freeway traffic, perhaps you’d cast your ballot for the candidate making transportation a priority.Unfortunately, candidates for president and U.S. Senate aren’t listing specific ways to solve gridlock in Southern California. In fact, in debates, forums and campaign stops, the topic has barely come up, leaving many transit experts worried the chances of federal dollars flowing west are slimmer than ever. Nailing down...

Transportation

If you could vote while stuck in mind-numbing freeway traffic, perhaps you’d cast your ballot for the candidate making transportation a priority.Unfortunately, candidates for president and U.S. Senate aren’t listing specific ways to solve gridlock in Southern California. In fact, in debates, forums and campaign stops, the topic has barely come up, leaving many transit experts worried the chances of federal dollars flowing west are slimmer than ever. Nailing down...

Transportation

CLAREMONT >> Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti spoke in favor of extending the L.A.-to-Azusa Gold Line into San Bernardino County on Friday, saying funding for the first-ever cross-county light-rail line would start with passage of Measure M on Nov. 8.Because the only funding source for the 12.3-mile extension is contained in the one-half-cent transportation sales tax, he joined about 200 people at Pomona College, including mayors and members of Congress, at a kickoff program for...

Droughts

A late La Niña — El Niño’s much drier cousin — is predicted to appear in November, albeit a weakened version drained of its power to affect weather in California, climate watchers said Thursday.The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center called for a 70 percent chance of the flip side of El Niño arriving next month. However, the probability drops to about a 50-50 chance during January, February and March,...